Stem-Cell Research Breakthroughs Could Overcome Ethical Object..

THE DAILY SCAN
May 11, 2003
By MARK INGEBRETSEN

Which came first the chicken or the egg? Thanks to stem-cell research, that question may someday prove irrelevant.

The ability of stem cells to transform into the myriad specialized cells that make up living organisms continues to astound. Just this month two discoveries were announced that show the highly adaptable cells can be formed into the two basic components needed to spawn new generations of organisms -- that is, egg and sperm cells.

Earlier this month we learned that scientists had devised a way to coax stem cells into becoming "new unfertilized eggs -- ova -- for the next generation," Newsday reported.

The work is significant because theoretically, additional stem cells could be harvested by using these eggs to artificially create embryos outside of the womb. This new source of stem cells would add to the finite numbers now available to researchers studying the cells' potential to attack diseases and repair the body's organs.

Roughly 400,000 frozen embryos exist in the U.S., according to a recent survey, reported the Washington Post.

However, "Only 11 human stem cell lines are available for research, far fewer than originally estimated," according to National Institutes of Health statistics cited by the Associated Press.

Those 11 lines are immune from "the restriction that President Bush placed on federally funded stem cell research," the Associated Press noted. The restrictions are the result of ethical concerns over the use of human embryos for research that Mr. Bush and some fellow conservatives share.

Artificially produced embryos created using stem cells could sidestep these ethical issues, however. That's because the technique creates what the New Scientist described as " 'virgin births' in some species. ... Researchers are on the brink of obtaining human stem cells this way for the first time, and animal experiments suggest such cells are indistinguishable from normal stem cells."

Yet another breakthrough -- the creation of sperm from stem cells -- could blur the line between real and artificial life all the more, belying or perhaps exasperating ethical concerns in the process. The experiments -- which so far involve mice -- could one day enable infertile couples to conceive children, a separate New Scientist article noted. But before that happens, the research could improve the success rate in cloning experiments with animals. At present, cloned animals often suffer from birth defects or die prematurely. But as the New Scientist reported, "The offspring of cloned animals ... seem to be normal," and that suggests "that the formation of eggs and sperm corrects any lingering imprinting defects," according to the magazine.